As is well known, personal computers (PCs) allow expansion devices to be attached and detached via interfaces which are based on USB (Universal Serial Bus), PCMCIA (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association), IDE (Integrated Device Electronics), or other standards.
Conventionally, such expansion devices can be attached and detached only after the PC is turned off. However, based on USB or other recent standards, there has been an increasing number of hot-swappable expansion devices, which can be attached and detached freely even when the PC is in use with the power on.
However, even if such expansion devices are removable when viewed from the PC system, there may be cases in which a user does not want to (must not) remove them. For example, during networking with an expansion device (for example, a PCMCIA PC card) with modem capabilities or LAN capabilities mounted on the PC, naturally the user does not want to remove it.
In such cases, if the user removes an expansion device by mistake, the PC system will unload the driver for the expansion device and performs other relevant processes, following normal procedures, to allow the expansion device to be removed. Thus, although there is nothing abnormal for the system, the user will be inconvenienced by the sudden interruption of the network communications.
In this way, if an expansion device which is not hot-swappable—i.e., which cannot be attached or detached with the power on—is unexpectedly removed from the PC, it becomes necessary to attach the expansion device again, reboot the system on the PC, and make the expansion device to be recognized again by a system management function of the OS on the PC. This will take time and labor. Consequently, novice users or the like may not know the procedures and may not be able to continue running the PC.
Even if an expansion device is hot-swappable, it must be attached again. Although this involves no more trouble than when attaching ordinary expansion devices, the fact remains that extra time and labor are required unexpectedly.
The present invention has been achieved in view of the above technical problems. Its purpose is to provide a computer device, an expansion device management method, etc. which can prevent unexpected removal of expansion devices and improve the usability of the PC.